AI.clife Lab

07/07/2026

📢 𝗥𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻!

The 𝗔𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗟𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 (𝗔𝗜.𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗟𝗮𝗯) of the Department of Natural and Mathematical Sciences, Visayas State University Tolosa, is pleased to offer a FREE 11-day online bootcamp:

𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗽
From Python Programming to AI-Driven Molecular Design
📅 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗹𝗲: Every Saturday, Sep 19 to Dec 12, 2026
💻 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺: Zoom

This bootcamp is designed for undergraduate and graduate students who are interested in applying artificial intelligence and molecular modeling to biology, chemistry, biophysics, and drug discovery.

Participants will receive hands-on training in:
🐍 Scientific Computing with Python
🤖 Classical Machine Learning
⚛️ Molecular Docking
⚛️ Molecular Dynamics Simulations
⚛️ Molecular Mechanics
🧠 Deep Learning and Graph Neural Networks
🤖 Generative AI for Molecular Design
📝 Scientific Writing

📖 The complete bootcamp outline is available on GitHub:
https://github.com/mersalas/DigiChem_Bootcamp

📝 𝗥𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲: https://forms.gle/M7RpmoRreE6B6uHVA
📱 Or simply scan the QR code on the poster.

⚠️ Limited slots are available. The registration deadline is August 3, 2026 (Monday). 𝘗𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘐.𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘓𝘢𝘣 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰-𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘴.

02/07/2026

If you are an experimental chemist and planning to apply artificial intelligence (AI) in the wet lab and experimental data analysis, Zhang's Deep Synthesis Lab has created a course called AI for Experimental Chemistry. The paper is published in the ACS Journal of Chemical Education: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jchemed.5c01699
Colab notebooks for the course are available on their website: https://zzhenglab.github.io/ai4chem/intro.html

Welcome to CHEM 5080: AI for Experimental Chemistry # Washington University in St. Louis Fall 2026 Instructor: Zhiling “Zach” Zheng (he/him) Office: McMillen 411 | Web: Deep Synthesis Lab | Email: [email protected] This class is open to everyone and can be taken at your own pace. All tutorials are fr...

23/06/2026

There is an ongoing free summer bootcamp on Scientific Computing for Beginners with Python, Pytorch, and AI, organized by Dr. Pratyush Tiwary of the University of Maryland. Colab notebooks and recordings (to be posted after classes) are available at the course website: https://scotch.wangyq.net/
The video recording of the first lecture on Introduction to Python is already available at the YouTube Channel of Dr. Tiwary: https://youtu.be/baMCfP_P9pM?si=bCytP_tUGOTu3R0N

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

12/05/2026

🦠 Remmer Salas, Dr. Portia Mahal Sabido, and Dr. Ricky Nellas of the UP Diliman Institute of Chemistry developed ISCAPE (Interpretable Support Vector Classifier of Antibacterial Activity of Peptides against 𝘌𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘪), an AI-powered tool that helps experimentalists predict whether a peptide can kill or inhibit the growth of 𝘌. 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘪.

🔗 Read here: https://science.upd.edu.ph/upd-chemists-create-ai-tool-to-predict-antibacterial-peptides/

08/04/2026

COARE's HPC service also supports several research projects by Visayas State University – Tolosa (VSU-Tolosa)'s Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics (DNSM) that focus on antibacterial activity and antiobiotic resistance. 🧫🦠

Read more here: https://coare.asti.dost.gov.ph/stakeholders/supporting-agencies/visayas-state-university-tolosa

To know and learn more about COARE, its services, and initiatives, visit our wiki at https://coarewiki.asti.dost.gov.ph/ and our official website at https://coare.asti.dost.gov.ph/

25/03/2026

Congratulations to our principal investigator, 𝗥𝗲𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗮𝘀, on the publication of two papers in the 𝗔𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘁𝘆 (ACS) Journals! 🎉

📌 Computational insights into how cationic residue length tunes antibacterial activity in ultrashort histidine-based lipopeptides (Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling)
📌 Side chain length in lysine and its homologues modulates noncovalent interactions in histidine-rich peptides (Journal of Physical Chemistry B)

These studies provide computational insights into how the side chain length of cationic residues modulates noncovalent interactions and antimicrobial activity in histidine-based peptides. Using Drude polarizable molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and quantum mechanical (QM) calculations, the authors show that diaminopropanoic acid (Dab) appears to be the optimal cationic residue for histidine-based cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs). While ornithine (Orn) may be better suited for membrane-lytic antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), supported by its potent activity against 𝘌𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘪 and 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘶𝘴.

Moreover, the results suggest that shorter cationic residues fall within an optimal window for noncovalent interactions, in which balanced cation-histidine interactions enhance antimicrobial activity. Interactions that are too weak or too strong with membrane lipids can diminish or even eliminate peptide activity. These insights were successfully applied to the design of new His-based peptides, achieving up to 250-fold improved activity compared to the parent peptide. Overall, these studies provide valuable insights for the rational design of the next generation of selective and potent CPPs and AMPs.

JCIM paper: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.jcim.5c03211
GitHub: https://github.com/mersalas/qm_cmd
JPCB paper: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.jpcb.5c08666
GitHub: https://github.com/mersalas/drude-qm

24/03/2026

10/01/2026

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗩𝗦𝗨 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗨𝗣 𝗗𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀!
We are inviting motivated undergraduate and graduate students to apply as thesis co-advisees for two interdisciplinary research projects to be implemented this year:

🔬 𝗶𝗖𝗔𝗡-𝗘𝗦𝗞𝗔𝗣𝗘 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁
𝘼𝙄-𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙞-𝙀𝙎𝙆𝘼𝙋𝙀 𝙥𝙚𝙥𝙩𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙨
This project has been shortlisted for possible funding by 𝗘𝗩𝗛𝗥𝗗𝗖. Although funding is not yet certain, the research is already underway. Thesis students will work on curation of the ESKAPE dataset and the development of a convolutional neural network (CNN)-based model for antimicrobial peptide discovery.

🌍 𝗚𝗔𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗔𝗥𝗠𝗦 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁
𝙂𝙚𝙤𝙨𝙥𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙞𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙫𝙚𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚
This project is in collaboration with the Institute of Biology, University of the Philippines Diliman, and has been approved for funding by 𝗗𝗢𝗦𝗧. Thesis students will collect freshwater samples in Leyte, analyze physicochemical properties, assess the abundance and occurrence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and genes, and develop a GeoAI-based model for AMR surveillance.

📩 Interested students are encouraged to 𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗝𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝟮𝟲. Slots are limited.

14/10/2025

We would like to congratulate our principal investigator, 𝗥𝗲𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗮𝘀, for publishing their paper, “𝐼𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑣𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑜𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡 𝐸𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑖”, in 𝗘𝗹𝘀𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝗿'𝘀 𝗝𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝗠𝗼𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴. In this work, they developed 𝗜𝗦𝗖𝗔𝗣𝗘 to address the limitations of current antimicrobial peptide prediction tools. ISCAPE stands for 𝗜nterpretable 𝗦upport Vector 𝗖lassifier of 𝗔ntibacterial Activity of 𝗣eptides against 𝘌. 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘪. It is available as a web server, where experimentalists can paste the SMILES of their peptides to predict antibacterial activity. A Google Colab notebook is also available for large-scale prediction and identification of important features.
Paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1093326325002487
Webserver: https://huggingface.co/spaces/rlsalas/iscape
GitHub: https://github.com/mersalas/ISCAPE

02/08/2025

🚨 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐬 𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐕𝐒𝐔 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐔𝐏 𝐃𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬!

Are you interested in using artificial intelligence and computational tools in solving real-world biological problems?

We’re looking for motivated thesis co-advisees to join two exciting projects:

🦠 𝗚𝗔𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗔𝗥𝗠𝗦, in collaboration with the Institute of Biology UP Diliman, has been recently approved by DOST for 2027 funding. We are already conducting preliminary studies on the development of AI models for 𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗰𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲.

📍 Open to VSU (BS Bio/EnviSci) and UP Diliman (BS Bio) students. 𝗢𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝟮 𝘀𝗹𝗼𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝘃𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲!

💊 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗣𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗔𝗜𝗦 is an ongoing project on the use of AI and biomolecular simulations to 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗯𝗶𝗼𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗱𝗲𝘀.

📍 Open to VSU BS Chem, Biotech, or APhys students. 𝟯 𝘀𝗹𝗼𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝘃𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲!

✉️Email us your letter of intent. Slots are limited!